Accurate targeting from imprecise locations

ABSTRACT

Compensation for tolerances inherent in state-of-the-art locating and targeting. Based upon known approximate position and heading of the spotter, and certain data related to objects with the a vision area, an expanded field of vision related to the perspective of a virtual spotter location is generated. Compensation for present location variance due to locator equipment inherent tolerance is provided such that targeting of each object in the vision area can be precisely implemented.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not Applicable.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable.

REFERENCE TO AN APPENDIX

Not Applicable.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of Technology

The field of technology relates generally to navigating, and moreparticularly to locating spotter position and targeting objects.

2. Description of Related Art

The physical world comprises physical objects and locations. There aremany known devices and systems associated with navigating the physicalworld. Most relate to use of one or more, substantially constant, signalemitters, or “beacons,” where the signal is something associated with aparticular physical location of the beacon.

With the proliferation of computing devices and the rapid growth of theInternet and use of the World Wide Web (“www”), physicalobjects-of-interest such as commercial entities, e.g., a bookstore, andeven particular things, e.g., particular books on the store shelves, arerelated to one or more virtual representations—commonly referred to as“web pages.” The virtual representations generally use text, audio,still or video images, and the like to describe or illustrate therelated object-of-interest and possibly even offer associated commercialservices. Each web page can represent one or more objects. Thesecomputerized constructs, often referred to as “cyberspace,” a “virtualworld,” or hereinafter as simply “the web,” have become an importanteconomic reality, providing individuals continually improving personaland business activities convenience.

Bridges between the physical world and virtual world are rapidlyappearing. Particularly, portable wireless communication devices andapplications provide great convenience and wide use potential. Oneproblem associated with such mobile devices is that there is an inherentimprecision of positioning systems. For example, most personalgeophysical positioning system (“GPS”) devices, relying on triangulationcalculations based on acquisition of signals from three or moreEarth-orbiting satellites, have an accuracy, or potential positionvariance, to only to about±five meters.

As links to the web proliferate, locating and acquiring a particularlink associated with a specific object-of-interest without use of a fullweb browser search routine will be user-preferred. Discriminationbetween links associated with physically proximate objects becomes moredifficult. For example, in an art museum, acquiring an immediate link toa web page for one specific object d'art in a room full of many becomesmore complicated if each has its own link.

BRIEF SUMMARY

In a basic aspect, there is provided a method and apparatus fortargeting physical world objects from a substantially portable computingdevice. A mechanism is provided for automatically adjusting the devicefield-of-vision, including compensating for lack of knowledge of thepresent precise location, such that all objects within the range of thedevice are accurately targeted. An exemplary embodiment of acquiring alink to a web beacon is described.

The foregoing summary is not intended to be an inclusive list of all theaspects, objects, advantages and features of described embodiments norshould any limitation on the scope of the invention be impliedtherefrom. This Summary is provided in accordance with the mandate of 37C.F.R. 1.73 and M.P.E.P. 608.01(d) merely to apprise the public, andmore especially those interested in the particular art to which theinvention relates, of the nature of the invention in order to be ofassistance in aiding ready understanding of the patent in futuresearches.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a mobile device relative toan object-of-interest.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of an exemplary mobile device asshown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an estimated mobile device (as inFIG. 2) location with respect to a plurality of objects-of-interest (asin FIG. 1).

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a location incertitudeconstruct associated with a mobile device as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating an extended device visionconstruct.

FIG. 6 is a diagram associated with calculating the extended devicevision construct in accordance with FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart associated with calculating the extended devicevision construct in accordance with FIG. 5.

FIG. 8 is an illustration of the trigonometry associated withcomputation of extended device vision associated with the flow chart ofFIG. 7.

Like reference designations represent like features throughout thedrawings. The drawings referred to in this specification should beunderstood as not being drawn to scale except if specifically annotated.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is an illustration where an object-of-interest 103 is withinrange of targeting by a mobile device 101. In order to make thedescription of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention easierto understand, assume the device 101 is a portable telephone withdigital view screen and having known manner Internet capability. Assumealso that the object-of-interest 103 is mapped in a database of manyobjects; e.g., a database map of physical buildings in a given citywhere each mapped building has an associated web page. Also assume thereis a possibility that there are one or more web links associated withthe object-of-interest 103, e.g., a department store within aline-of-sight of the user of the device 101. It should be recognizedthat a wide variety of applications and implementations can beenvisioned; the use of specific exemplary embodiments described hereinare for convenience; no limitation on the scope of the invention isintended nor should any be implied therefrom.

Looking also to FIG. 2, this mobile device 101 is equipped with knownmanner telecommunications hardware and software/firmware, including aweb compatible program, here shown as a labeled box, “telecom” 201. Themobile device 101 is also provided with self-locating subsystems, e.g, amagnetic compass 203 for determining current heading direction, and asubsystem 205, such as GPS, for determining current location of thedevice 101 within a predetermined variance according to the specificimplementation of the GPS. In addition to the wireless telecom 201subsystem, the device 101 has a known manner receiver 207 for obtaining“beacon” signals wherein it can receive wireless signals (RF, infrared,or the like) from an object 103. Note that this signal can be any typeof broadcast identifying information associated with the object; forpurposes of continuing the exemplary embodiment in an applicationassociated with use of the web, let the beacon signal be indicative of aUniform Resource Locator (“URL”) of a web page associated with theobject-of-interest 103, e.g., a department store product directory. Notehowever, that the “broadcast” can in fact be simply reflected lightwhich can be acquired through a simple optical lens. For example, if theobject-of-interest 103 is relatively large, such as a department store,and the user is interested in knowing whether the store carries aproduct, getting to the associated web URL could be as simple as aimingan optical lens for an attempt at acquisition of a related, “mapped,”beacon; specific implementations can be tailored to connectivity needs.That is to say, the acquisition of a link to obtain data from theobject-of-interest 103—in this example the URL associated with thestore—does not rely upon connecting to the link itself as aprerequisite.

The device's receiver 207 will have a given “aperture”—α°(d)—that isdefined as a given angular range through which the mobile device 101 maybe rotated while continuing acquisition at a distance “d” (rather than aglobal value the aperture will vary depending on “d”). For purpose ofdescribing the invention, the term “vision angle” (“v°”) is defined asthe aperture angle of the mobile device if the self-positioning accuracywas perfect, and the term “vision area” (“Vp_(i)”) is defined as thearea where the device could maintain signal acquisition from theposition “p_(i)” if the self-positioning accuracy was perfect.

A subsystem 209 for performing calculations, e.g., a known mannerprogrammable microprocessor or application specific integrated circuit(“ASIC”) is also provided, for performing calculations (which will bedescribed in detail hereinafter) with respect to accuracy of preciselocation of the mobile device 101. For convenience, this subsystem 209is referred to hereinafter as a “position recalculator 209.”

FIG. 3 is an illustration showing that the mobile device 101 has anestimated location—“p_(e)”—from the data of the GPS 205 (FIG. 2)subsystem. Two objects 301, 302 are outside the constant vision angle“v°” of the mobile device 101. However, since the accuracy of the GPS205 has a given variance, it is demonstrated by FIG. 4 that there isassociated with the mobile device a circle-of-incertitude “Γ”(approximated for purpose of this description as a circle although inactuality a hemisphere having a height dimension and where for thisembodiment the altitude of the device is ignored.) The mobile device 101may actually be anywhere in the circle such as a perimeter location“p_(i).” The vision area 401 for the estimated device location p_(e) isshown as V(p_(e)) and the vision area 403 for the possible actuallocation p_(i) is shown as V(p_(i)). In other words, for thisillustration, when the mobile device 101 _(e) thinks it is at locationp_(e) and it is in reality the device 101 _(i) at location p_(i), theuser could be pointing the mobile device 101 at an object and notacquiring the associated broadcast signal due to the variance of thepositioning subsystem GPS 205. Conversely, if the mobile device 101 isactually at location p_(i), it will acquire the object shown as object302 when it was not the specific object-of-interest; in other words, theuser, thinking from the GPS 205 data that they are at location p_(e)when actually at location p_(i), may be confused if a URL for Object 2suddenly appears on the mobile device's screen due to the inaccuracy ofactual location determination, even though the object-of-interest 405which is outside vision area 403 between Object 1 and Object 2 ispointed at by the user.

The position recalculator 209 introduces a factor of “extended devicevision,” represented by the symbol “E.” The extended device vision “E”is in effect a union of all vision areas from all the possible userlocations in the circle-of-incertitude “Γ” for the mobile device 101 ata current estimated location, where the diameter of thecircle-of-incertitude is defined by the predetermined variance inherentto the GPS subsystem 205. Note that this “circle” may take other shapes,e.g., ovoids, and the like. This union of all vision areas, the extendeddevice vision can be defined by the equation:

E=U_(πε┌)V(p_(i))  (Equation 1),

where “ε┌” represents objects to detect.

FIG. 5 is a representation of the introduced extended device vision forthe same factors shown in FIG. 4, illustrating that Object 2 (302)—nowassumed to be the actual object-of-interest—is detected even though theGPS 205 (FIG. 2) subsystem believes the mobile device 101 _(e) is atposition p_(e) when it can be actually elsewhere, “any p_(i),” withinthe circle-of-incertitude “Γ.” In order to set up acquisition of anobject-of-interest, e.g., obtaining a URL link from a beacon at Object 2(302), the position recalculator 209 will detect all objects in “E”wherein the aperture of the device for an object depends on the objectdistance and is modulated by the GPS' position accuracy. While in thisembodiment, the extended field of vision is shown as a parabolicconstruct, it will be recognized by those skilled in the art that otherpolygon constructs may be employed. Also, again, it should be noted thatwith added accounting for the height variance factor, an implementationmay have a “vision volume” which is a three dimensional shape, e.g., acone. Such an implementation can be made in order to have, to continuethe previous example, a link to a beacon associated with only aparticular floor of a multi-story department store.

Using FIG. 6 to illustrate, the calculation of the extended devicevision is describing an extended device aperture “α°_(obj)” covering allthe extremes of possible position “P_(o)” of an object in the extendedvision at a distance “d” from the mobile device 101 _(e). The maximumlines of sight describing the vision area for each possible position arenow on the two tangents 601, 602 to the location circle-of-incertitude603 and which have an angle to the device heading 604 equal to a visionangle 605 equal to the known vision angle of the device “v°.” This canbe described by the equation:

α°_(obj)=α°(d)=v°+λ°  (Equation 2),

where λ°=sin⁻¹ (a/d).

In other words, this calculation as related to FIGS. 4 and 5 puts themobile device 101 at every possible position within thecircle-of-incertitude 603 Note that, extension of the tangent lines 601,602 (FIG. 6) behind the mobile device 101 to an intersection thereofcreates a virtual targeting, or “spotter,” location with respect to theactual perceived location of the mobile device in thecircle-of-incertitude. However, actual position of the mobile device 101to be ascertained can only be within the circle-of-incertitude.Therefore, one must consider the case where the circle-of-incertitude isvery large; with the range of the object broadcast beacons beinglimited, using that virtual targeting focus location of the tangentlines in the calculations could move one mathematically out of range ofan object actually within range. Thus, while this “virtual steppingbackward” to the intersection of the tangent lines constructive spotterlocation can be employed for calculations, it is not a preferredembodiment.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart also illustration the repositioning calculationin accordance with the diagram of FIG. 8, illustrating adjustment of theaperture for each object. To find out which objects are in the extendedvision of the device 101, a “Map” of the objects (a given databaseproviding location, beacon frequency, and the like information withrespect to all objects in the current Map), the approximate location ofthe device, L_(device), the “Accuracy” of L_(device), the deviceheading, “A°_(device),” and the old set of detected objects,“S_(obj-old)” are used.

A set of data related to all detected objects from the estimatedlocation p_(e), now defined as “S_(obj-old),” is saved, step 701. Aregister, or other temporary data storage, “S_(obj),” for detectedobjects is emptied, step 703. For each Object_(n) in the Map, thedistance “d” from the device to each is determined, step 705. It isdetermined if the object is within the circle-of-incertitude, step 707.If so, step 707, YES-path, the object is entered into the currentS_(obj) register, step 709. A check to determine if the currentobject-under-consideration is the last in the Map is made, and if not,step 710, NO-path, the process loops back to processing the next object.If the distance from the device to the current Object underconsideration is greater than the radius of the circle-of-incertitude,step 707, NO-path, the angle β°_(obj) between the device heading 604 andthe current Object direction is determined, step 711.

Next, the aperture angle, α_(obj), between the heading 604 and theextreme possible position P_(o) of an object in the extended vision atdistance “d” from the device is determined, step 713. If the acquiredObject was already in the set of old detected objects, S_(obj-old), step715, YES-path, an angle hysteresis° limit is increased, step 717.Hysteresis° is an arbitrary parameter which is set to make alreadydetected objects harder to lose. This means that an object will remainfor a limited time even after it has left the current vision area. Thisavoids having a jitter of objects close to the boundary of the visionarea.

Next, step 715-NO path, if the angle β°_(obj) 711 is smaller than angleα_(obj) 713, step 719, YES-path, the current object is added to thedetected object list, S_(obj) step 721. If not, step 719, NO-path, theprocess reruns the check step 710 until all objects have been processed.Once all objects have been processed, step 710, YES-path, the list ofdetected objects, Sobj, is returned, step 723. For example, list isprovided on a display screen of the mobile device 101 from which theuser can choose a particular target object of all the objects in theextended field of vision that are so listed. Effectively, once aspecific Object is selected from the list, the focus of the mobiledevice 101 becomes any broadcast, e.g., URL beacon, of the selectedObject.

Note that for objects are within the circle-of-incertitude, that iswithin the resolution of the mobile device's position accuracy range,that the algorithm is automatically self-adjusting, having an adaptivefidelity aspect. Note also that from an optical sensing perspective, thealgorithm equates to “seeing” all objects within range simultaneouslywith binocular vision, all objects being superimposed and having a widthrelated to the distance (i.e., closer is bigger). That is, for eachobject there is created a different field of vision from the samelocation.

In pseudo-code, the calculation can be described as follows:

<compute—Object (Map, L_(device), Accuracy, v°, S_(obj))

S_(obj-old)←S_(obj)

S_(obj)←empty

for each Object in Map,

d←Object Distance from (L_(device))

if (D<Accuracy),

then, S_(obj)←Object,

otherwise

β°_(obj)←ObjectBearing (L_(user))

α°_(obj)←SweepAngle (D, Accuracy, v°)

if (Object εS_(obj-old))

β°_(obj)←β°_(obj)+hysteresis°

if (α°_(obj)<β°_(obj))

Sobj←Object

return Sobj>.

The aperture, α°_(obj), ranges from a minimum value, equal to the visionangle, “v°,” up to 360°. By studying the equation, it can be recognizedthat the minimum aperture will appear when the object is far away fromthe device (“d” is relatively large and “λ°” is relatively small), whilethe maximum aperture will appear when the object is close. The algorithmpreserves perception of distance.

Thus, a compensation for tolerances inherent in state-of-the-artlocating and targeting is provided. Based upon known approximateposition and heading of the spotter, and certain data related to objectswith the a vision area, an expanded field of vision related to theperspective of a virtual spotter location is generated. Compensation forpresent location variance due to locator equipment inherent tolerance isprovided such that targeting of each object in the vision area can beprecisely implemented.

The foregoing description, illustrating certain embodiments andimplementations, is not intended to be exhaustive nor to limit theinvention to the precise form or to exemplary embodiments disclosed.Obviously, many modifications and variations will be apparent topractitioners skilled in this art. Similarly, any process stepsdescribed might be interchangeable with other steps in order to achievethe same result. At least one embodiment was chosen and described inorder to best explain the principles of the invention and its best modepractical application, thereby to enable others skilled in the art tounderstand the invention for various embodiments and with variousmodifications as are suited to the particular use or implementationcontemplated. The scope of the invention can be determined from theclaims appended hereto and their equivalents. Reference to an element inthe singular is not intended to mean “one and only one” unlessexplicitly so stated, but rather means “one or more.” Moreover, noelement, component, nor method step in the present disclosure isintended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether theelement, component, or method step is explicitly recited in thefollowing claims. No claim element herein is to be construed under theprovisions of 31 U.S.C. Sec. 112, sixth paragraph, unless the element isexpressly recited using the phrase “means for . . . ” and no processstep herein is to be construed under those provisions unless the step orsteps are expressly recited using the phrase “comprising the step(s) of. . . ”

What is claimed is:
 1. A positioning device comprising: means fordetermining heading of the device; means for determining currentposition of the device within a predetermined variance; means fortargeting objects within a vision area of the device and receiving asignal indicative of capture of one or more said objects; means fordetermining the identity of said objects, including approximate distancefrom said current position; and from said heading, said position, anddistance, means for compensating for said predetermined variance and foradjusting field-of-vision of said means for targeting relative to eachof said objects.
 2. The device as set forth in claim 1 furthercomprising: means for displaying a list of one or more said objectswithin said field-of-vision.
 3. The device as set forth in claim 2comprising: means for connecting to a respective Internet link relatedto said objects from said list.
 4. The device as set forth in claim 1wherein aperture of the device for each of said objects respectivelydepends on each object distance and is modulated by the variance.
 5. Thedevice as set forth in claim 1 wherein said means for targeting objectsis a receiver for accepting a predetermined beacon signal from saidobjects.
 6. The device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said adjustingfield-of-vision is a union of all vision areas from all the possibleuser locations in a circle-of-incertitude around said device defined bysaid variance.
 7. The device as set forth in claim 6 wherein said unionof all vision areas is described by the equation E=U _(πε┌) V(p_(i)),where “ε┌” is the objects to detect, vision area “Vp_(i)” is defined asarea where the device could maintain signal acquisition from theposition “p_(i)” if said variance is zero.
 8. The device as set forth inclaim 1 wherein said means for compensating and for adjusting isprogrammable.
 9. A method for compensating position variance of apositioning device, the method comprising: storing a map of potentiallydetectable objects; saving a set of data S_(obj-old) related to allactually detected objects from an estimated location p_(e); creating atemporary data storage, “S_(obj),”; for each of the actually detectedobjects_(n), determining distance “d” from the device, and if any ofsaid objects is within a predetermined area, storing those objects intothe temporary data storage; for each of said objects which are outsidethe predetermined area, determining an angle β°_(obj) between deviceheading and each current one of said objects outside the prederterminedarea direction; for each of said objects outside the predetermined area,determining aperture angle, α_(obj), between the device heading and anextreme possible position P_(o) of an object at distance, d, from thedevice; for each individual one of said objects outside thepredetermined area, determining if angle β°_(obj) is smaller than angleα_(obj) and, if so, current said individual one is added to thetemporary data storage, S_(obj), and, if not, ignoring said current saidindividual one and repeating said determining if angle β°_(obj) issmaller than angle α_(obj) for remaining individual ones of said objectsoutside the predetermined area; and displaying Sobj.
 10. The method asset forth in claim 9 comprising: if a currently said individual one ofthe objects outside said the predetermined area matches an object insaid set of data, S_(obj-old), angle hysteresis° limit is increased,where hysteresis° is an arbitrary parameter which is set to make alreadydetected objects harder to lose.
 11. A method for compensating fortolerances inherent in state-of-the-art locating and targetingapparatus, the method comprising: based upon known approximate positionand heading of the apparatus and predetermined data related to objectswith a vision area of the apparatus, generating an expandedfield-of-vision related to the perspective of a virtual position of theapparatus; and displaying objects within said expanded field-of-visionarea such that compensation for present location variance due toapparatus inherent tolerance.
 12. The method as set forth in claim 1wherein targeting of each of said objects in the vision area iscorrected for incertitude of said approximate position of saidapparatus.
 13. The method as set forth in claim 1 in a programmablemobile targeting apparatus.
 14. The method as set forth in claim 13wherein said programming is implemented in accordance with the followingcomputer code: <compute—Object (Map, L_(device), Accuracy, v°, S_(obj))S_(obj-old)←S_(obj) S_(obj)←empty for each Object in Map, d←ObjectDistance from (L_(device)) if (D<Accuracy), then, S_(obj)←Object,otherwise β°_(obj)←ObjectBearing (L_(user)) α°_(obj)←SweepAngle (D,Accuracy, v°) if (Object ε S_(obj-old)) β°_(obj)←β°_(obj)←hysteresis° if(α°_(obj)<β°_(obj)) Sobj←Object return Sobj>.
 15. A portable positioningdevice comprising: a housing; interconnected within said housing, acompassing subsystem, a geophysical positioning subsystem, atargeting-and-receiving subsystem for targeting objects within a visionarea of the device and receiving a signal indicative of capture of saidobject, a database of positioning-and-targeting information related topotential objects-of-interest, and a programmable computing subsystemhaving programming such that from heading, current approximate position,and current approximate distance, said computing subsystem provides anadjusting of field-of-vision of said targeting-and-receiving subsystemrelative to each of said objects within the vision area, compensatingfor predetermined variances of said compassing subsystem and geophysicalpositioning subsystem of the device.
 16. The device as set forth inclaim 15 further comprising: a visual display providing a list of one ormore objects within said field-of-vision.
 17. The device as set forth inclaim 16, said computing subsystem further comprising: programming forestablishing an Internet link to a selected object from said list. 18.The device as set forth in claim 15 wherein said targeting-and-receivingsubsystem includes a receiver for accepting a predetermined beaconsignal from said objects.